BABE RUTH 14s: West Windsor-Plainsboro wins thriller over Nottingham

HAMILTON — It was a classic Babe Ruth League 14-year old game and it took a classic performance from Cole Millinger to decide it.

Neither Millinger and his West Windsor-Plainsboro teammates or Nottingham gave an inch.

Millinger allowed just three hits and drove home the winning run as West Windsor-Plainsboro took a thrilling 2-1 win on Saturday morning in the second round of the Babe Ruth League District One 14-year old tourney played at Switlik Park.

WW-P will return to Switlik Park on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. to meet Ewing/Hopewell in the winner’s bracket final. The winner of that game will lock up a berth in the state tourney to be played at Nottingham.

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The Hamilton Square gang returns on Sunday at 12 p.m. to meet the winner of Hamilton and Montgomery.

The game began on Thursday and was suspended — due to weather — with Nottingham holding a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. There was one out and a runner on first.

When play resumed Millinger issued a walk to Tommy Argiriou, he got a strikeout for the second out and then the WW-P magic took over. Tristan Spadola, who had two hits, singled to right and WW-P’s Brennan Froio made a perfect throw to catcher Scott Doherty for the final out of the inning.

“I felt good coming back,” said Millinger, who allowed just two hits and a walk after the second inning. “I took my time a little more than on Thursday. I was able to throw all my pitches and hit my spots well.”

WW-P tied the game in the fourth when Doherty singled, took third when Froio reached on an error and scored on a Paul Cooke ground out.

The winning run scored in the fifth when Blake Brown, an All-Trentonian ice hockey player at Hun, walked to start the inning. Dylan Welch reached on an error and then Ryan Strype sacrificed them up a base.

Millinger drove home Brown on an infield single for the game-winner.

“It wasn’t the greatest of hits,” said Millinger. “I was looking for a fastball and was able to hit it. When we got the run I knew we had a pretty good chance to win. Then when I got back on the mound I had a lot of confidence in my team and I knew we were into the game.”

The performance by Nottingham’s Chris Harkness was just as impressive. Harkness also allowed just three hits, he walked three and saw the deciding run be unearned.

“He had a heck of a game,” said Nottingham manager Tom Argiriou, of Harkness. “He kept battling and throwing strikes. He was the best I’ve ever seen.”

These same two teams battled a year ago for the 13-year old district title.

“It was a great game,” said WW-P manager, Jason Welch. “Give credit to the pitchers. We had a key play at second and we had some clutch hits. Cole (Millinger) was unbelievable. He executed our plan.”

The plan was to get good pitching, timely hitting and some slick fielding it worked to perfection.

WW-P got a great throw on a pitch out by Doherty to gun down a runner trying to steal second to start the sixth. Then in the seventh Josh Lichtenstein made a sliding catch in left for second out and then Strype got the final out on an over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory off first base.

“We didn’t have any errors and I attribute that to our work ethic,” said Doherty. “Our coaches make us work hard and we have a lot of talent. We are envious of that banner Nottingham got last year and that’s why this game was so important.”